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Friday, August 14, 2009

2009-06-22 Italy Trip - Dubrovnik, Croatia

Before breakfast I made it up to deck 10 to photograph our entry into Dubrovnik, Croatia. It was very scenic and I shot LOTS of photos. We had a nice breakfast in the Windjammer and then took our shuttle bus into Dubrovnik. The city was very beautiful and had lots of winding streets and alleys with outdoor cafes and tourist shops. It was all made of a white stone with marble walkways. Before we left, several people told me that it was beautiful and they were right. The people were very friendly and all spoke English. They took kuna (the native currency which means "marten" in Croatian since it is based on the use of marten pelts as units of value in medieval trading) as well as Euros and most places took American dollars too. At the time of our visit, there were 5 kuna to a dollar and seven to a euro. I picked up a T-shirt and we had some more gelato. There were several artists selling original paintings in the square by the wall. One did all his villagescapes in shades of blue. These were hauntingly beautiful and I told him so (13 euro). Another one painted watercolors that I thought were marvelous, especially for 10 euro, but Karen didn’t like the style. Both artists painted in a kind of (what I will call) a Slavic style (think Russian) with varying black outlines and dark shading. All were mounted on mat board as a backing. Hvala means “thank you” in Croatian.

It started spitting rain at us and we decided to grab a shuttle back to the ship just as the sky let loose with a quick shower which soaked us before moving on just as we got on the bus. Once back on the bus, it was off the Windjammer for lunch and then back to the docks for some more souvenir shopping before going back for our regulation afternoon nap.

I set an alarm to wake up at 16:30 to watch the departure so Eva and I went up on deck and took lots more photos. All too soon it was 17:30 and time to get ready for dinner. Tonight I had the shrimp and crab salad, the slow roasted beef shoulder filet with tender-crisp zucchini, summer squash, onions in reduction and mascarpone mashed potatoes, and the Triple Choco-Chino for dessert. Eva ordered a bottle of Chilean Merlot (in Hector’s honor) and we enjoyed that with our meal. It was on the dry side with a nice flavor that wasn’t overpowering and complemented the beef and vegetables very well.

Tolga gave us the answer to last night’s brain teaser: Add a line to “10 10 10 = 950” and it becomes “10 To 10 = 9:50”. Pretty good. Hector took two napkins and made a rose in a water glass. He then told us he was going to transfer energy through the table and told Audrey and Justin to put their index fingers flat on the top of the table and their thumbs under them under the table. He then balanced a very full water glass on their index fingers and told everyone Goodnight. Poor Audrey and Justin couldn’t move. He came back once more and lined up two spoons and a half-full water glass and flipped the second spoon right into the water glass on his first attempt. I’m going to miss dinners on the ship.

Later we went to the Anchors A Weigh lounge and watched the Quest Adult Game Show. This was like a scavenger hunt for people in the audience. The MC (Bill, the cruise director) called out, “I want to see your team number and the shoelace out of a shoe”, for example. The teams all rushed up with their team placard and the shoelace. It got crazier as the game progressed. Some of things he called for were a man carrying lady's nylons over his arm (as in carrying a woman wearing nylons to the front), an appendectomy scar, a tattoo, a man’s shirt (not worn), a man wearing a ladies bra on his head, ladies wearing a wait staff members vest or an officer’s jacket, and finally, a shirtless man wearing a ladies bra, shoes, makeup and a purse. It was a giggle-fest as you can well imagine.

After that, it was late night pizza followed by a cup of tea, then bed.